Festo’s bionic Elephant Trunk is one step closer to bionic limbs

British company Festo has certainly got the edge when it comes to creating bionic animals. We have personally witnessed their AquaPenguin invention in action and it’s truly breath taking to watch!

The company are continuing to strive towards artificial splendor by launching their latest concept, the robotic elephant trunk, which is also known as the Bionic Handling Assistant.

The bionic arm gives it the edge over heavy industrial robots as direct contact between humans and machines is now no longer hazardous. In the event of a collision the system yields immediately, without becoming unstable. Its design comprises of three basic elements, the hand axis with ball joint and the adaptive FinGripper which makes for smooth movement, with more degrees of freedom and an unparalleled mass/payload ratio. The Bionic Handling Assistant opens up numerous new fields of application: from the handling industry, via medical technology and agriculture, to domestic households and institutes of learning. In industrial environments, the Bionic Handling Assistant could also be used as a handling system to support assembly processes.

The technology is certainly exciting and we are sure it won’t be long before Festo create human body parts that could be properly grafted on to people who may have lost their limbs in accidents or such like. However they are already one step closer to this dream…Get the Terminator music ready……